


Chasing Comets

by Voltronicworld



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Minor Injuries, POV Keith (Voltron), Slow Burn, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:23:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voltronicworld/pseuds/Voltronicworld
Summary: In an alternate universe where the Galra have conquered the entire known universe and Voltron is nothing more than a fairytale, Keith lives out a life of a notorious space pirate. He traverses the galaxy with Pidge as his trusted partner in crime, all the while searching for clues as to the whereabouts of Pidge’s family and Shiro.After a nasty run-in with a Galra war-ship, the pair find themselves stranded on a human-based colony, where they are quickly swept up in the plans of what remains of the last resistance against the Empire.





	Chasing Comets

Keith took a deep breath to settle himself, jerking the cuff of his gloves up to cover the bare patch of skin at his wrist. He carefully shifted his footing, moving slowly as he eased his weight from one leg to the other. Inching his way along the metal ceiling beams, Keith was mindful of every tiny noise he made, keeping a sharp eye on the large number of aliens wandering about their daily business below him.

The Crogeg were a stoutly built alien race, with a long green snout, razor sharp teeth and huge bat like ears. They were well known for their incredibly sharp hearing, strength and short tempers. Keith shuddered to think what would become of him if they discovered him creeping about their Hive.

He crept his way over what looked to be a large indoor courtyard, with small patches of greenery dotted here and there, making his way to the very end of the beam where a narrow pane of glass separated him from his goal. He glanced through the window down into a small room where a bored looking Crogeg was swiping through screens of coding at her small desk console.

Keith’s gaze shifted beyond her, past the large floor to ceiling window that led onto a flat platform outside, towards the back of the room to the large trophy display case. He quickly skimmed over the various objects, his eyes finally landing on a small jewel, resting on a plush ornate cushion. Sparkling amber with tiny silver spikes running up one side. 

Bingo. This was the one.

Ever so slowly, Keith pulled out a small hand laser from the slit in his cloak’s lining, fiddling with its settings to make sure it was on the quietest mode possible before he set to work cutting a hole in the glass, keeping one eye on the Crogeg for any sudden movements or ear twitches in his direction. 

The pane eventually fell free and Keith caught it and set it gently to one side.

Now came the hard part. Keith reached into his pocket and pulled out the small syringe Pidge had prepared for him. Pulse racing, Keith dropped inside the room. The Crogeg immediately swung around in her chair at the noise. Before she could react, Keith leapt at her, clamping her snout shut with one hand whilst injecting the syringe’s serum into her sternum in one swift movement.

In less than a second the Crogeg was out like a light and Keith once again found himself in awe at the ‘sleepy time serum’ he’d purloined during one of his escapades. He eased her gently back into her chair, reaching under his hood to activate the communications device hidden within his mask.

“I’m in,” he breathed, fully aware of the large amount of Crogeg still milling around outside. “Are we set?”

 _“Who do you think you’re talking to?”_ Pidge replied easily, sounding confident. _“The next time someone tries to open that door, the entire Hive’s security system is going to trip. It will take them four hours to fix if they don’t know what they’re doing, five minutes if they do.”_

“Cameras?” Keith asked, quickly moving to the trophy cabinet and grabbing the amber jewel, safely stashing it into one of the pouches attached to his belt.

_“Set to a ten minute loop. You’re clear.”_

One job done, Keith hastily moved onto the next, reaching over the unconscious Crogeg to slot Pidge’s mini-drive into the computer console, typing a line of code to activate the program.

His head whipped to the door at the whirring sound of a lock clicking into place, followed by the lights shifting from a soft yellow to a glaring red. Loud voices could be heard outside and Keith’s pulse increased once more as he turned his attention back to the computer.

He watched, skin tight with anticipation as the program flicked speedily through all of the available data, a cartoonish animation of Pidge’s head bobbing from side to side with a dopey grin floating at the bottom of the screen.

 _“Keith!”_ Pidge’s voice hissed suddenly in his ear. _“They’re good. They’re halfway through fixing it!”_

“Do what you can Pidge,” Keith said with a calm he didn’t feel. He bit his lower lip as he willed the download bar to fill faster. “Come on, come on!”

 _“Shit,”_ Pidge swore, just as the door slid open. _“Plan B Keith!”_

“Hey!” a heavy voice yelled just as Keith grabbed the mini-drive.

He lurched backwards as a large clawed hand reached for him. Keith obligingly took it, jerking the Crogeg forward into his foot. The Crogeg stumbled back, clutching his stomach, winded. Keith ducked a swipe from another Crogeg, twisting around to swipe the feet out from under them with a low kick.

Before more reinforcements could arrive, Keith grabbed one of the bulkier looking trophies from the shelf, lobbing it at the window with all his might. The glass shattered with an oddly satisfying crash, the noise drawing more Crogeg’s to pour into the room, snarling angrily. Keith dove through the window, his shoulders hitting the hard ground before he rolled to his feet into a sprint.

“It’s Dread Red! He’s got the Glim Stone!” Someone shouted. “After him!”

“You go after him,” someone else yelled back. “I’m not going to mess with that maniac!”

 _“To your left,”_ Pidge instructed. _“Head up, to the roof.”_

Keith darted across the platform, bounding up a large slope to a higher level, his breath coming in quick pants as he ran. Quick, heavy footsteps told him he was being chased. Beams of laser fire shot past him, scorching the ground where they hit dangerously close to his feet.

The higher Keith went, the hotter it became until he reached the very top of the Hive, the boiling wind whipping his cloak around and stinging his exposed skin. It was a pebbled roof with a slight dome, a clear view of the lush green plains of the planet spread out all around him.

 _“Jump!”_ Pidge yelled at him as he reached the edge.

Keith didn’t hesitate, trusting Pidge with his life, and ran straight off the roof. Adrenaline surged as he flailed through the air, stomach dropping when he saw nothing below him but the ground rushing up towards him at an alarming speed.

“I can’t fly, Pidge!” he screamed.

Pain exploded as he landed on something hovering a couple of hundred feet above the ground. Swearing, Keith instinctively locked his knees around it to stop from rolling off, taking a moment before he realised he was sitting on the hoverbike Pidge had been fiddling with for the past couple of months. She must have added some type of cloaking technology to it without his knowing.

_“Funny, I thought flying was what you did best?”_

“I hate you,” Keith replied, grabbing the now visible handles and shifting the bike into gear. He could hear the Crogeg’s shouting insults and profanities at him from their roof as he zoomed away, easily dodging the poor aim of their laser guns.

 _“You love me,”_ Pidge stated as Keith flew low over the plains to where his ship waited for him, his feet barely skimming the tall grass. _“And I have photos of that time on Traovos 9 ready and at my disposal if you dare to say otherwise.”_

“Hate, hate, hate,” Keith reaffirmed with a grimace as Pidge’s laughter filled his ears.

* * *

Pidge was waiting for him as he pulled into the narrow cargo hold of his ship, sat on top of a small pile of food crates, kicking her feet out in a lazy motion, a wide grin on her face.

“Dread Red strikes again!”

Keith groaned. “Don’t call me that,” he complained as he parked the hoverbike off to one side. “I hate that name.”

He wasn’t even entirely sure where that name had come from, though he had a sneaking suspicion Pidge had played a small role in it’s initial creation. At first it had been easy to ignore, but as he began building his network, taking on more jobs and building a general reputation for himself, the rumours of ‘Dread Red’ spread and grew. It was damn near to impossible to disassociate himself from the stupid name at this point.

“It’s what the people chose, Keith,” Pidge told him solemnly, hopping down from her perch and trailing after him as he walked past, heading for the cockpit. “Accept the voice of the people.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, _the people_ have a piss poor naming sense.”

“...I resent that remark.”

The cockpit whirred to life as they crossed the threshold, the green and red lights of the control console machinery blinking awake. The pre-set autopilot settings had them lifting off in moments, fixing to float steadily in the small planet’s orbit.

A barrage of beeping and whistling noises were all the warning Keith needed, ducking with a practiced ease as a modified Galra drone swooped for him from the ceiling, missing his head by a narrow margin.

“Why does your robot hate me so much?” Keith grumbled, as Pidge grabbed the drone out of the air before it could make another charge at him.

Pidge laughed, rubbing a flat part of the drones’ body affectionately as though she were petting a cat. It settled almost instantly, making a low humming noise of contentment. “Rover doesn’t hate you, he just gets confused when he scans you and detects your Galra blood, that’s all.”

Yeah. Right. 

However much Pidge denied it, Keith was sure that Rover had it out for him. Not because of his Galra blood, but because it simply decided it didn’t like him. He eyed the little drone wearily as Pidge released it back into the air, relaxing slightly when it seemed happy enough to hover by her side.

Reaching into his belt pouch, Keith pulled out the Glim stone to take a better look. A misty like substance swirled beneath it’s amber surface, glittering in the light. It was very pretty, Keith would grant it that much, but it hardly seemed worth the amount of money he was getting paid for stealing it.

“That’s it?” Pidge asked, plucking the stone from his fingers. She squinted as she examined it up close, her glasses glinting as she turned it from side to side, eager to discover any hidden secrets. “What does it do?”

Keith shook his head with a small smile at her antics. “It’s just a decoration, Pidge. It doesn’t _do_ anything.”

“This guy is paying us a boatload of money for a pretty pebble?” Pidge said, voice monotone in disbelief. She tossed the stone back to Keith, clearly unimpressed with it’s lack of mysterious gadgetry. “Are all Vriqs this weird or are we just lucky to land this one as a client?”

“Let’s find out.”

Keith dropped into the pilot’s chair, pressing a quick sequence of buttons on the control panel as he pulled up the view screen. He waited until Pidge moved safely out of sight before starting the call. Keith plucked at his shirt as he waited. After running from those Crogeg’s in that intense heat he needed a shower.

There was a buzz as the call connected and a large orange feathered face filled the view screen. “Whad’ya want?” it growled in a low voice.

“It’s Dread Red, Serweol,” Keith said, reluctantly using his pirate name. When there was no response from Serweol but a narrowing of his beady yellow eyes, Keith slowly added, “You hired me to find your stone?”

“Oh! Right, hang on.”

There was an awkward pause as Serweol covered his screen, the sounds of his feathers rustling as he shuffled around coming through clear on the audio. Keith glanced back at Pidge who replied with a bemused shrug.

 _‘Wierdo’,_ she mouthed at Keith. He smirked and turned back to the screen just as Serweol revealed himself again. He seemed to have moved to a darker room, and when he next spoke it was in a gruff whisper. “Did you get it?”

Keith rolled the stone over his fingers before holding it up in clear view. Serweol’s eyes latched onto the movement, greed clearly rolling off of him in waves. “I got it. Had a nasty run in with a bunch of Crogegs, but I got it.”

“Crogegs huh? I’ve heard they can be brutal if you get on their bad side.”

Keith shrugged. “I dealt with it,” he said, purposefully vague for Serweol to interpret however he liked.

“I’ll arrange for one of my boys to collect it at the pre-arranged drop off point and credit the money to your account,” Serweol said, dismissal clear in his tone.

“Actually, Serweol, I don’t think the amount we discussed is going to cut it anymore,” Keith told him before he could disconnect the call, leaning back casually in his chair and resting his left leg on his right knee.

“What!?”

“Just as you said, those Crogegs can be brutal. I put my life on the line to get you this stone.” Keith lightly tossed and caught the stone in his palm. “I think that means I’ve earned double the amount we agreed on, plus a minor handling fee.”

“D-double!?” Serweol exclaimed, astounded. “If you think I’m going to pay that much to a lousy fucking pirate-”

“Or we could just call it quits and I’ll find another buyer for your bauble,” Keith interrupted, making a show of stashing the stone away in his pouch. “I’m sure there are plenty of other potential collectors this side of the galaxy.”

“No, wait!” Serweol shouted. “I’ll pay, damn it! I’ll pay double!”

Keith smirked. “Credit half of it to me now, the rest on delivery.”

Serweol grumbled, a blue light illuminating his face as he pulled up a data screen. “Done,” he huffed after a moment.

Keith glanced back at Pidge who had her own screen pulled up from the device strapped to her wrist. She nodded in confirmation and Keith turned back to Serweol.

“Nice doing business with you,” he said pleasantly, disconnecting the call on Serweol, mid-insult.

Keith chuckled. That was their living expenses and fuel cost covered for at least another two months. He spun his chair around to face Pidge who looked unimpressed. His smile faded and he crossed his arms defensively. “What?”

Pidge sighed and shook her head. “If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.”

Keith rolled his eyes, reaching up to yank the thick scarf free from his neck. He took off his mask and stood before stripping off his plated shoulder pads and hooded cloak. The disguise was heavy and cumbersome, but sadly necessary if he wished to retain some anonymity in his line of work.

Feeling more like himself, Keith eyed the scrape marks on his gloves from where he’d dove through the window, wondering if he had any leather conditioner left. Better the gloves than his skin though, which was why he wore them.

He fished the mini-drive out from his cloak and tossed it to Pidge. She looked at it, frowning slightly, before settling herself in her usual spot in the navigator’s chair. Screens flashed to life all around Pidge as she set to work, fingers flying over the keyboard as she sifted through all the data collected.

Keith left Pidge to it, knowing there was no talking to her once she got started on data mining. He decided to take a shower and sleep for a bit before they headed to the drop-off point. He gently patted Rover on its pointed top in passing, deftly avoiding the answering swoop at his head with another duck. 

Yup, it definitely hated him.

* * *

Keith woke from a restless sleep, jolted by the ship rocking from a thunderous explosion. He could smell smoke. His eyes flashed open and he leapt from his bunk, grabbing his cloak and mask as he flew out the door towards the cockpit.

Pidge was already there in her customary seat, still wearing her baggy pair of green pyjamas, frantically pounding the buttons on her console in an attempt to maintain the ship's defences. Rover was flying in quick circles above her head, making loud whistling and beeping noises of distress.

“We’re under attack,” Pidge said, distracted and tense as Keith dived into the pilot’s chair. “It’s a Galra war ship.”

 _’Galra’_ , Keith thought in a wash of cold fear as he pushed the ship forward at full throttle, trying to get out of range of their guns. He couldn’t fight against one of their war ships with his small cruiser. They were armed to the teeth with the latest in advanced military weapons that only the Empire could provide. The best he could hope to do was outrun them.

Anyone else would have been blown to smithereens within moments, but Keith had been raised as a Galra fighter pilot; he knew their battle tactics and with it had the knowledge to counteract them. He pushed his cruiser to it’s limits, swerving, looping and diving as he barely managed to avoid the heavy fire from the plasma guns.

But even with all of his skills and experience, Keith was unable to get the Galra off his tail. There was a deafening crash from towards the back of his ship as one of the shots got lucky and broke through their shields. The impact nearly flung Keith from his seat, the safety belts barely able to hold him steady.

A shrill whistling noise rose amongst the clamour, alerting them to several system failures. He ignored the warning messages floating above his console. The ship was straining under the pressure at maintaining such a high speed whilst taking such heavy damage.

“Holy shit!” Pidge gasped, and Keith’s eyes shot to hers. Her face was drawn and she’d broken out in sweat. “Keith, we’re... we’re being hailed. It’s coming from the Galra ship?”

Keith clenched his jaw, hesitating for only a moment before he accepted the call. A small view screen popped up above his arm, revealing a Galra with fine features and long pale hair that Keith regrettably knew all too well.

“What the hell do you want, Lotor?” he snarled, steering the ship in a tight circle to avoid another blast.

“Ah, it _is_ you, Keith. I thought I recognised the rudimentary flight style,” Prince Lotor said casually, as though he weren’t currently trying to blast their ship into oblivion. “Honestly, no one would believe you’d been trained by the elite of the Empire by the way you’re flying right now. You can’t even escape from one small war ship. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed in you.”

“Fuck off!” Keith shouted. He grit his teeth, hating that Lotor had heard his voice quiver.

“Now, now. No need to get testy,” Lotor said, smoothing down the fabric of his embroidered regal clothing. “I’m simply following protocol, demanding you give up, surrender any and all weapons, _bla bla bla._ I’ll even let you keep that human pet you’ve collected, as a token of my goodwill.”

“Fuck you!” Pidge yelled from her seat, making Keith’s lips twitch up briefly.

Lotor ignored her, tilting his head to one side. “Come now, Keith, enough with the dramatics. I’ve been ordered to bring you back,” he coaxed, gently.

Keith’s thoughts touched on the horrific gladiatorial arenas where friends and families were forced to fight each other to the death. If they refused, they were immediately executed. But if they survived, they were carted off to be experimented on by the Druids. All of them had died in agony for the sake of entertaining the royal family. 

Lotor was an absolute sadist, no matter how kindly he acted.

“You’re a bastard,” Keith whispered. Lotor gestured as if to say, “So what?”

“Stop trying my patience,” Lotor sighed, idly examining his nails. “Surrender your little ship, or we’ll blow it up and I’ll haul you back home piece by piece.”

He had no choice. If he didn’t, Keith was certain Lotor would carry through with his threat. He glanced back at Pidge, meeting her gaze. After a moment of silent communication, she frowned and nodded at him in grim resolve, grabbing the clunky spacesuit and helmet that she kept by her console in case of emergencies.

“I’m not going to let you drag me back to the Citadel,” Keith said, resolute.

“Oh, you _are_ going to struggle! I so hoped you would.” Lotor’s thick lips split into a nasty grin. “You have such a fine strength of mind, Keith. I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”

Keith’s heart pounded as he cut the call’s connection, adrenaline rushing as he focused on flying. He’d made his choice. He would live or die by it.

The ship jolted violently under the impact of another large plasma blast. Pidge cried out as she was flung from her seat, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

“Our shields are down! We can’t afford to take another hit like that!” Pidge yelled, clutching Rover tightly to her chest as she scrambled to her feet. Keith hoped his eyes weren’t as scared looking as hers.

“Get to the emergency pod, now!” he snapped, pulling down the thrust lever as far as possible, the ship's interior rattling from the added labour as it struggled to hold itself together.

Pidge ignored him, grabbing Keith’s own helmet and roughly shoving it over his head.

“What are you doing?” Keith shouted as Pidge reached over him, setting the ship to autopilot.

“Saving your ungrateful ass, now move!” Pidge ordered, yanking him out of his seat and shoving him out of the cockpit.

“Pidge!” Keith protested as Pidge gripped his arm tighter, pulling him to run along behind her.

“You’re not leaving me to survive on my own!” Pidge yelled, cutting his objections short. “I can’t lose you too, Keith. I won’t. So just... just deal with it.”

Keith eyed the small width of her back as they ran, his stomach clenched in guilt. It was far too easy to forget, when they lived a life as dangerous as theirs, how very young Pidge still was. Hidden underneath the layers of that bright mind and snarky personality, was a very sad, insecure and lonely child who sorely missed her family.

A huge boom shook the floor, sending them both stumbling. Keith reached for Pidge, desperate to keep her safe. The floor swung out from under them and they fell. Keith clutched at Pidge’s shoulder, pulling her into his chest to keep her from rolling away.

His stomach dropped and a flash of fire burst around them. Keith screamed in pain, covering Pidge with his body as much as he was able. In an unreal, shrieking motion, the ship broke apart around them. Keith cried out as Pidge’s grip was torn away, flames racing over them.

Another explosion flung them both through the air, further into the remains of the ship. Keith smacked the floor hard on his back, leaving him temporarily winded. Panicking and lungs aching for air, Keith forced himself to move.

“Pidge!” he called, scrabbling up onto all fours as he tried to re-orientate himself. He found her, clinging onto a bit of bent piece of piping sticking out of the huge gaping hole where the cockpit used to be, trying to keep herself from floating out into dead space. Pidge’s eyes met his, her gaze unfocused.

Keith gathered himself, climbing the gradually sloping floor towards her. The cockpit was gone and the Galra war ship was right there, looming over them like a huge, dark shadow. He didn’t know how they were going to make it out of this one.

“Pidge,” he said as he reached her, his voice croaking. His ears were ringing from the explosions, but he could hear himself. “Are you okay?”

Pidge blinked at him as if trying to focus. Blood seeped out from under her hairline, making a dark streak against her pale skin. Her eyes closed, and Keith watched in alarm as her grip on the piping went slack.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Keith hissed, grabbing Pidge before she could float away.

Keith wrapped an arm around her torso, tucking her in close to his chest so he could pick her up with ease. He looked around frantically, searching the floating remains of the ship for some sort of help. He had to get her out of there, but the cockpit was gone and the chunk of the ship that held the emergency pod was floating away in 100 feet of dead space.

A sound of desperation escaped him as he kicked off the ship's remains, striking out for the pod. He’d never make it, but there was no other way to save Pidge. Cold was seeping through his suit, making his body feel heavy and cold. Probably not a good sign.

“Fucking, damn it all!” Keith swore, using his anger to keep himself moving. “Why didn’t you listen to me Pidge, you stupid... you should have saved yourself...”

He used floating bits of ship debris that he passed to push himself further along through the dead space, dreading the moment Lotor realised they were still alive and turned his guns on their vulnerable bodies.

Keith’s vision blurred when he saw they’d almost made it. The pod was blackened with scorch marks and there was some visible denting in it the armoured plating, but by some miracle it remained intact. Taking a deep resolute breath, Keith pushed himself forward those last few feet, thunking against the side of the pod with a grunt.

Sliding open the control panel, Keith’s fingers fumbled as he struggled to input the code to open the hatch. A groan of frustration slipped from him as it beeped at him, the word _’invalid’_ flashing up red on the screen.

The beeping continued, turning into a shrill whistling sound. Keith was just about to say, ‘to hell with it’ and smash the fucking thing, when he slowly realised the noise wasn’t actually coming from the panel.

He lifted his head, finding Rover bobbing up and down next to him. “Of course you would survive,” Keith said, his speech slow and slurred, not feeling as worried as he should be in his situation. The cold seemed to have numbed everything, even his thoughts.

Rover ignored him, swooping down to the control panel and lighting it up with a beam from it’s tiny red scanner. Numbers and weird symbols flashed on screen when, suddenly, the hatch flew wide open.

Not wasting anytime, Keith used some floating debris as leverage, heaving Pidge up and into the pod. He hung for a moment on the entrance, resting his head against the metal paneling of the pod floor. Keith felt so tired and his thoughts kept slipping away from him. 

What was he doing?

Something sharp was nudging persistently at his side and he blinked drowsily down at the stupid Galra drone. He wanted to swat it away but his limbs felt like heavy clubs, he could barely move them. He glanced up into the pod, trying to think.

Oh, right, he remembered belatedly as he saw Pidge laying prone on the pod floor. Pidge was safe, now it was time to save himself. He grunted, swinging a leg up into the pod and, with Rover’s help, managed to roll inside and close the hatch.

Rover zoomed over to control panel, activating the life support and hitting the accelerator button. The pod shuddered as it came to life and began to move. He’d done it, they were safe.

Keith’s eyes slipped shut. He felt so tired, he just wanted to sleep. Something hard was nudging the side of his head and Keith absently reached out, patting the smooth, cold metal the way he’d seen Pidge do a thousand times.

“Good robot,” he mumbled, before slipping into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> I am extremely nervous about posting this. I hope you all enjoy it in some small measure at the very least.


End file.
